


A Glint of Broken Glass

by EmeraldHeiress



Series: Shards of Kyber [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Discovery, Don't copy to another site, Ficlet, Gen, Light Angst, Reveal, Slavery, Surprises, Tatooine (Star Wars), Tatooine Slave Culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:29:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25498393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldHeiress/pseuds/EmeraldHeiress
Summary: There was a child singing on his mother's grave.
Relationships: Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader
Series: Shards of Kyber [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1847170
Comments: 22
Kudos: 497





	A Glint of Broken Glass

There was a child sitting on his mother’s grave.

The Three Sisters hung high in the night sky, shining their light over the desert world. The largest was full, pregnant with potential. A sign of change in the coming months. A sign of new beginnings. 

In Anchorhead, in Mos Espa — in all the cities that dotted the harsh planet — couples (both the chained and freeborn) would be sneaking away. Vows would be exchanged. Water would be shared. The dead would be honored and the missing remembered. 

And there was a child sitting on his mother’s grave.

There was a child _singing_ on his mother’s grave.

Notes faded in the wind. Words Ana- _Vader_ remembered. Words he had sung himself. Words he murmured over and over again in the darkness of the nights on Mustafar and the harsh lights of the _Executor_. 

For his mother. For his wife. For his unborn child.

A song he didn’t remember learning but always remembered knowing, always remembered singing, at the graves of the dead. His mother standing next to him, her solid warmth a comfort as they lost another friend. Another family member. Another slave.

“Have you come to take me back?”

The words startled him. A flare of anger curled in his gut. How dare a child get the better of him? He clenched his fist, the metal in his prosthetic grinding.

His need to know outweighed his anger. What was the boy doing here? Honoring _this_ grave next to a deserted _ruin_ of a moisture farm?

“Back?”

The boy stood, unsteady on his feet. The pale light of the Three Sisters cast him in shadow as he turned toward the man. Vader released his shields, reaching out in the Force. He didn’t need his eyes to see. 

The Sith Lord almost took a step back. If he had been anyone else, he might have. The boy _blazed_ in the Force. So bright it was almost staggering. 

“You’ll have to kill me!” The boy stated, voice hoarse. His sincerity was sharp in the air. “I won’t go back! I’m freeborn! You have no right!”

Despite the meaning and intent behind the words, the boy looked like a stiff breeze might blow him over. If Vader had truly been what he had feared, the boy would hardly have been able to assert anything. 

The Force was heavy with the pain and hate and anguish in the boy. _The fear._

A creeping suspicion began to form.

“What is your name?” He demanded.

The boy scoffed, “Gardulla didn’t give it to you?”

Vader stalked forward, annoyance ~~apprehension~~ flowing through him as he approached.

“ _Your name!_ ”

The child stumbled backward, tripping over his feet and sprawling in the dirt. Moonlight hit his face and Vader froze. 

“ _Skywalker!_ ” The boy squawked, “Luke Skywalker!”

But Vader barely heard him. He didn’t need the confirmation. Every inch of the boy’s features screamed his parentage. From Padmé’s mouth to his own brows. The Force rang with the truth of it.

His son.

_He had a son._

The Sith Lord knelt next to the boy. “Luke.” 

He held out a hand slowly. The fear from ~~the boy~~ his son lanced through the Force. “I am your father.”


End file.
